Blade 3.1 / 3.3.1
Calibrating Cameras

Connect the cameras

At the top left side - make sure you click Connect
- you will see the cameras respond by lighting up bright
red leds, with a blue and a green light. The blue light
indicates that cameras are connected. Once we finish the
wand wave the green lights will stop blinking and be on
solid.

The gearbox icon above the plug icon will turn red
when connected.

Calibrate the cameras

There are 4 steps we will follow to calibrate the cameras. Note
that if your overall error is > .4, you should try another
calibration. Anything under .3 is excellent.Note about mouse
controls: When moving in the Vicon Blade window, RMB forward
and backward is an in and out motion with the mouse. Hold
both right and left mouse keys down to move around.

If you want to adjust a specific
camera, use the single bubble gum to affect one camera only - double
check the location by selecting the camera (double
click) and look for the blinking blue button on the
camera itself)

Auto Masking (in 3.3.1)- with the wand hidden and no other reflective
materials out, click Start Auto Masking - you will see
it quickly cycle thru the cameras - hit stop. (Cleans
up everything, camera views should all look clear at
this point.) Note in Blade 3.1 and lower this was
called Auto Threshold

Wand Wave - expand the
options (triangle in 3.1, ... in 3.3.1) and ensure the
Combined Wand (last entry in the dropdown menu)
is set - should be by default - and begin your wand
wave - try to build the cameras up evenly paying
attention to the weaker cameras. You may now use
Auto Stop (checkbox) - a limit of 3000(Refinement
frames) works well for our system.

Setting origin -
place the wand level in the center of the volume and
click start then stop. Wand is facing the front (desk)
of the volume with the tail pointing back toward the
green screen room.

Calibrate Floor Plane -
place a dozen (3.1) or minimum 5 (3.3.1) markers
randomly on the floor particularly along the edge and
a few in the center and then click start and stop.
Experiments have shown that this helps with feet
capture.

SAVE CALIBRATION (just
in case you want to reload it later on ie. blade
crashes - locations and settings are saved now). If
the overall error is < .3 this is excellent. If
not, repeat the steps. NOTE: Blade 3.1 saves location
and settings, 1.7 only saved location). Please note
that for Blade 3.3.1 the errors may be higher (.3 is
good, only > .4 is not good). Never hurts to double
check your settings after a crash.

In rare cases you may find the need to adjust the
camera settings individually, however since our equipment is
monitored closely there is no need - the steps are described in Advanced Camera
Adjustments and are included for completeness.Why calibrate the cameras each capture
day?Running the calibration ensures that Blade software knows
the precise location of the cameras to construct 3D points in
space from the 3D camera data. This calibration will ensure a
clean capture. You may save settings for another session,
however keep in mind that changes from movement of any kind
(trains, people walking on the floor above, etc.) can affect the
cameras. It is good practice to calibrate each capture session.

The goal is to build your cameras data up as
evenly and quickly as possible.

What is a good
wand wave?Walk around the perimeter of the capture
volume waving the wand up and down and in circular motions. The
cameras should reach a value of > 3000 to 5000 in the status
report window. The green lights on the cameras will light solid
green to indicate sufficient data (as well as the font color of
the number in the lower right window). The values of projError
are low - this is good. Expect an error with the new wand below
.2.Where way should the
wand be placed to set the origin?Place the wand with the handle pointed to the
back of the room. This will define the orientation of the space.
Be sure Combined Wand (last entry in the selection menu on the
Start Wand Wave options). It should be placed in the center of
the volume, parallel to the front of the volume and set level so
the bubbles are level. After
Set Origin the ring of cameras should be parallel to the floor.
Now the cameras are calibrated, it's time to capture a
Range Of Motion (ROM) for your actor.